An important step in that direction would be to pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005, he said. President Bush later signed the passed bill into law, creating the Energy Policy Act in early August. The policy contained three historic consensus agreements between the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) and several energy-efficiency groups establishing national minimum efficiency standards on commercial package air conditioning equipment, commercial refrigeration equipment, and automatic commercial ice-making equipment.
The terms of the agreements, enacted into law through the energy bill, involved national minimum efficiency standards that would be effective on Jan. 1, 2010. The law set new, more stringent minimum efficiency standards for packaged air conditioners and heat pumps (from 65,000-Btuh up to 240,000-Btuh cooling capacity) that are used in many commercial buildings, a 26 percent improvement.
In addition, the law extended for the first time the federal standards program to: